Aerial fixture



1926. 2 T. ,M. FARLEY AERIAL FIXTURE Filed May 11, 1926 INVENTOR. Tfleac/ore M f r/ejn AT RNEYS.

Patented Nov. 2, 1926..

HQE.

THEODORE M. FARLEY, OF NEVVYORK, N. Y.

AERIAL FIXTURE.

Application filed May 11, 1926. Serial No. 108,222. 7

This invention relates to means for supporting aerials particularly on the roofs of apartment houses, hotels and the like, or

in other buildings or dwellings occupied by a number of families. In such dwellings several families have radio sets which require outdoor aerials and it is the practice tostring these aerials upon a roof. As a general rule, the 'aerials are installed in a careless manner without due regard for safety, extend in all directions and are not only a. hazard, but produce a most unsightly appearance.

The object of the present invention is to provide simple and efiicient means adapted to be positioned on the roof of an apartment house or other building to support a plurality of aerials in a simple, eflicient and aesthetic manner. The invention is tundamentally intended tor-the supporting of a plurality of aerials, but may be employed to support a single aerial it circumstances require but one.

Speaking generally, the invention embodies two spaced horizontal supports of any suitable construction. These are mounted permanently on the building at a convenient elevation above the root and extend in parallel horizontal relation to one another. The supports may be in the form of piping or structural iron frame. Spaced longitudinally of the supports are keepers preferably in the form of twin hooks which extend from each support in the direction of the other and contiguous to each set of hooks is a downwardly projecting rod carrying at its lower end a fixed jaw preferably of insulating material. Associated with each pair of hooks is a clamping lever provided intermediate its ends with a transversely extending pin adapted to cooperate with the twin hooks as a fulcrum for the clamping lever. Mounted on the clamping lever below the fulcrum and juxtaposed with the fixed jaw is amovable jaw preferablyals'o of insulating material and at the upper end ofthe clamping lever is mounted means for direct cooperation with the aerial. The clamping levers associated with the cor responding hooks of both supports are complementary to one another. That is to say, one of them is provided with an eye to which one end of the aerial is adapted to be permanently attached, while the other is pro vided with apulley or directional roll over which the aerial may be passed while that releasing of the aerial.

portion of. the aerial beyond the pulley and which corresponds to the lead in is drawn downwardly between the movable jaw of the latter clamping element and the cooperating fixedjaw of the support, so that when tenof drawingv the aerial taut, the pull thereby exerted upon the upper end of the clamping levers will draw the upper ends of said levers toward one another thereby forcing the movable jaws associated with said levers into tight clamping relation with the cooperating fixed jaws, so that the fixed and movable jaws between which the lead in is positioned will serve to tightly clamp the lead in and thus hold the aerial against loosening. Below the jaws where the lead in is clamped, said lead in may pass without tension to the set over appropriate insulator commonly used to support the lead in.

The construction is simple and efficient, obviates marring ot the premises by the installation of aerials by inexperienced persons and provides a convenient and expeditious mounting for a plurality of aerials, it being understood that the clamping lever arrangement is duplicated at spaced intervals throughout the length of the fixed sup- .ports for as many aerials as circumstances will permit.

It will thus appear that viewing the invention from its broad genericistandpoint,

it consists in means for supporting one end of the aerial in a non-adjustable manner together with means for supporting the lead in end of the aerial in an adjustable manner,

the latter means being so constituted that the tension or welght of the aerial will effect the clamping of the lead in end thereof in such manner as to preclude slackening or The structure may be varied in details without departing from the invention.

' Features ot'the invention, other than those specified willbe apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read in con unction with the accompanying drawings. l

The accompanying drawings illustrates one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view ot an in stallation embodying the present invention, an intermediate portionot the length of the sion is applied to the lead in for the purpose a tioned in horizontal spaced relation on the roof of a building. These supports may be mounted in any suitable way on appropriate uprights and may be in the form of piping as shown in the drawings or of any other structure or material. A very satisfactory arrangement results'in the employment of structural iron of angle, channel or T section. The particular details of the support are, however, not material to the invention, the essential criteria being that there are two suitable substantially rigid supports positioned in spaced relation.

As shown in the drawings, the supports 1 and 1 have associated with their near sides twin hooks 2 and 2 Each pair of hooks is spaced apart a short distance and these hooks performthe function of keepers on which a lever is adapted to be fulcruined.

In practice a lever is adapted to be associated with each end of the aerial A, a clamping lever 3 being associated'with the blind end of the aerial and thelever 3 cooperating with the lead in end of the aerial. The lever 3 is in the form of a rigid bar or rod provided intermediate its ends with trunnions a adapted to cooperate with the hooks 2 after the manner shown in Figure 1, whereby the lever. is mounted for pivotal movement upon the hooks which function'as a fulcrum. That portion of the lever which extends downwardly from the fulcrum carries a movable jaw 5 preferably of insulating material and adapted to cooperate with a fixed jaw 6 also of insulating material mounted in fixed position on the support 1 by means of a post 7. The upper end of the lever 3 is bent in a forward direction and is bifurcated or forked and in this forked end is mounted an antifriction wheel or pulley 8.

A. clamping lever 3 is in all substantial respects the same as the lever 3, except that instead of providing an anti-friction wheel or pulley at the upper end of the lever 3 an eye 8 is substituted in lieu thereof. It will be-noted from Figure 1 that the parts of the 'lever 3 bear reference numerals corresponding with the parts of the lever 3 with the reference characterfa appended thereto. Similarly the support 1 is provided with a fixed jaw 6 mounted on the hanger by the rigid post 7.

In practice, the blind end of the aerial is adapted to be secured to the eye 8 of the clamping lever 23*, while the lead in end of the aerial is adapted to be passed over the pulley 8 and the lead in L passed downwardly between the jaws 5 and 6, so that when tension is applied to that portion of the lead in below the jaws 5 and 6, the aerial will be pulled taut. As the aerial is tightened by applying tension as described, the upper ends of both the clamping levers 3 and 3 will be drawn toward one another thereby swinging the respective levers upon their fulcrums until the movable jaw 5 engages with the fixedjaw 6 and the movablejaw 5 engages with the lead in L and forces the latter against the fixed jaw 6. Upon the application of further tension to the aerial, the fixed jaw 6 will maintain the lever3 in upstanding position to resist such tension, while the lever 3 will force the movable jaw 5 into tight clamping relation with the fixedjaw 6, so that when the pull on the lower end of the lead in is relieved, the lead in will be tightly clamped between the jaws 5 and 6,

which will serve to maintain the aerial under the tension to which it has been subjected. In order to preclude slipping of the lead in, with respect to the clamping jaws, said jaws are preferably complementarily corrugated or serrated as shown at 9. By this arrangement, the lead in will be slightly crimped and a positive grip insured.

It will of course be understood that that" portion of thelead in below the clamping jaws 5 and 6 is led to the set over suitable insulators as is common in the art.

I have described the parts associated with both ends of the aerial as of substantially the same construction. The purpose of this arrangement is to permit a reversal of the arrangement in the event that it is desired to reverse the aerial, so that the lead in end of the aerial is adjacent the support 1*, instead of the support 1 as shown.

With the arrangement as illustrated in the drawings. the clamping levers may be disconnected from their fulcrums and reversed so that the lever 3 becomes assoclated with the fulcrum 2 and the lever 3 becomes as sociated with the fulcrum 2. In this reverse arrangement, the jaws 6 will serve as a stop for the jaw 5 while the jaws 6 will cooperate with the jaw 5 to clamp the lead in.

The arrangementthus-far described may be bifurcated throughout the entire length of the supports 1 and 1 by providing these supports with spaced apart twin hooks-or fulcrums as shown in connection with the support 1 of Figure 1. The spacing should of course be sufiicient to preclude electrical interference between adjacent aerials, but in practice even relatively close spacing has been found to give thoroughly practical results. Thus, by the means which I have described a large number of aerials can be positioned. side by side upon a roof and when installed may be placed under the desired tension to preclude detrimental swinging and at the same time will not detract from the appearance of the building, because of the uniformity of the mountings of the several aerials.

It will of course be understood that an insulator is positioned between the blind end of the aerial and the eye 8 and in practice the pulley or roll 8 is preferably of insulating material to serve the function of an insulator. That portion of the lead in directly above the clamping jaws and 5 may be manipulated during installation so as to be free from engagement with metallic parts as would of course be necessary if the lead in is of uninsulated wire or the lead in may be of insulated wire, so that its engagement with metal parts will not seriously effect reception.

It will be noted that the jaws 5 and 5 are positioned a distance above the lower ends of the levers 3 and 3, so that portions 10 and 10 of said levers depend below said edges. The purpose of this construction is to permit the convenient attachment and detachment of the levers from their trunnions when the supports 1 and 1 are positioned out of easy reach above the roof. In such an installation, these depending parts of the respective levers are adapted to be received within a pocket or wholly in one end of a pole of suflicient length to permit the person installing the aerial to position the levers in place or remove them from position by means of a pull. Since the aerial is loosely strung during attachment and detachment of such levers, this operation can be easily effected.

Moreover, in the specific showing of the drawings, the lead in is shown as a continuation of the aerial, but in practice, the aerial may terminate short of the pulley 8 and the wire L constitute a tension wire connected to the end of the aerial by an insulator. In such a case the lead in can extend from a portion of the aerial intermediate its ends without cooperating with the clamping jaws. For these reasons, I do not restrict the invention to the specific manner of stringing the aerial on the fixtures of this invention.

In the foregoing detailed description of the invention, I have set forth one preferred practical form. I am aware, however, that details of construction may be varied without departing from the spirit of this invention, the scope of which is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An aerial fixture embodying a lever mounted on a fulcrum to permit of its pivotal movement, a clamping jaw mounted in fixed position, a cooperating relatively movable clamping jaw operable by the lever, and means for imparting the tension of an aerial to the power arm of the lever to force the movable jaw toward the fixed a portion of the aerial may be clamped between said jaws, the lower end of said lever projecting below the jaws to permit of attachment and detachment of the lever from its fulcrum.

2. An aerial fixture embodying a suit-able support, a lever fulcrumed on said support, a movable clamping jaw carried by said lever, a cooperating fixed jaw carried by said support, and means for imparting the tension of an aerial to the power arm of the lever to force the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw, whereby a portion of the aerial j aw, whereby may be clamped between said j aws,the lower end of said lever projecting below the jaws to permit of attachment and detachment of the lever from its fulcrum.

8. An aerial fixture embodying a suitable support, a lever fulcrumed intermediate its ends on said support, a directional member earned by the power arm of the lever, a movable jaw carried by the work arm of the lever, and a cooperating fixed jaw carried by said support, whereby an aerial, passed over the directional member and between the jaws, will be gripped by said jaws when the aerial is placed under tension, the lower end of said lever projecting below the jaws to permit of attachment and detachment of the lever from its fulcrum.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, this 8th day of May, 1926. v

THEODORE M. FARLEY. 

